Nurse supervisors' actions in relation to their decision‐making style and ethical approach to clinical supervision

Abstract

Nurse supervisors frequently reflected upon the ethical principle of autonomy and the concept and substance of integrity. The nurse supervisors used an ethical approach that focused on caring situations in order to enhance the provision of patient care. They acted as role models, shared nursing knowledge and ethical codes, and focused on patient related situations. This type of decision-making can strengthen the supervisees' professional identity. The clinical nurse supervisors in the study were experienced and used evaluation decisions as their form of clinical decision-making activity. The findings underline the need for further research and greater knowledge in order to improve the understanding of the ethical approach to supervision.

Elements and Strategies for Ethical Decision-Making in Nursing

“…20,[22][23] Five studies were performed in the United States, 1,14,[22][23]28 three in the UK, 20,[25][26] two in Australia, 15,19 Sweden, [12][13] Norway 17,24 and Canada 16,18 and one in Israel, 27 Brazil 4 and Chile. 21 Six studies were conducted in the hospital context, [12][13]15,[19][20]24 one with nurses of primary healthcare, pediatrics, adult health and obstetrics 14 and one only with nurses of primary healthcare. 17 The study participants were supervisors nurses, 1-2,15 nurses, 3,5,9 …”

“…The final sample included 19 studies, nine were empirical articles [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] (when data collection of the study is from people), eight theoretical 1,4,[21][22][23][24][25][26] (when the study discusses a topic or a theoretical question, with no intervention at the level of experience) and two case studies [27][28] (when the study has an empirical intervention, which allows the phenomena to be studied in depth in real contexts). The majority of the studies (95%) were published in English.…”

“…The majority of the studies (95%) were published in English. 1,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Six studies were published in Nursing Ethics (impact factor 1.093, evaluation year 2013), three in the Journal of Advanced Nursing (impact factor 1.685, evaluation year 2013) and two in the Journal of Community Health Nursing (impact factor 0.65, evaluation year 2013). Considering the classification that has seven levels of quality of evidence, 29 the results of this integrative review present a level of evidence of six, as they were derived from a single descriptive or qualitative study.…”

“…27 The majority of the authors (95%) were university professors. 1,4,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]28 In one study 27 the author was the president of a nursing association.…”

Patients’ and relatives’ complaints about encounters and communication in health care: Evidence for quality improvement

“…To strengthen the professionals [6][7], different approaches could be arranged within the organisation, such as clinical supervision [38] or "ethics rounds", which is organized ethical group discussions [39]. Often heavy workloads do not allow for organized reflection and discussions.…”